Other Loves

Mudkicker

Teaching wide-eyed Japanese kids

With her Belfast burr, but didn’t,

Though she loved it dearly,

But did in Melbourne, among

The hippies, then – restless and

Searching – returning to remind herself

Why she left for home, for Oz, all

Before learning with the homeless,

– Restless, restless, restless –

Brittany and Rathlin both

Interlopers and interlocutors, this

Small, inked, pierced butterfly,

Away again with the rising sun,

Until back, once more, to the

Ormeau Road and working with

Those women broken by men

Who couldn’t care less and who

Left them to the shelters with

Hot soup and a dog-eared Twilight:

This switchblade writer who called

Eighteen and life as she fought

The world alone.

And in the meantime, throughout,

She loved her mates and old lovers, 

One transitioning to another and

Back again, the best sort; and

She loved Paddy, kind, bright Paddy,

With his stars and marks and

‘Happy days!’ and who was

The gentlest, funniest friend, who

Longed for love but knew his

Mates instead until even they

Were too much to bear; and

She loved other Paddy, too,

Dealer Paddy whom she feared for,

Who had her mind the stash; and

She loved cockney Paul,

With his twinkling eyes; and

She loved little, long-haired Marty,

With his quick wit and words

And hate for scratch-inked spides

That hollered but couldn’t spell,

Marty who climbed Cave Hill

With her as they giggled in

Paroxysms of ecstasy before taking

A lysergic acid diethylamide

Dance through Botanic, ending with

Breakfast at Maggie May’s,

Marty who dipped Brits in eggs

With her and called ‘Bacon!’

After Peelers, she still dreaming of

Middle Earth and Mordor and the

Worlds across the sea; and

She loved Gerry, despite herself,

Despite his temper and madness; and

Elsewhere she loved Yann and Robert,